# Close whale encounter (almost Jonah!) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 4, 2011, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-whale-encounter-almost-jonah/601868 "2011-11-04T16:42:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-whale-encounter-almost-jonah/601868/1 "2011-11-04T16:42:32Z")
[YouTube video here.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=qoP1N0OyFic) ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-whale-encounter-almost-jonah/601868/2 "2011-11-04T16:50:36Z")
It looks pretty close and were I there I probably wouldn’t quibble over the difference, I’d be screaming “holy crap, I almost got eaten by a whale!” That said, the whale came back down and you see his fin still isn’t reaching the surfer, so its mouth was probably a good 20 feet away from her. ---
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-whale-encounter-almost-jonah/601868/3 "2011-11-04T17:05:34Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > That said, the whale came back down and you see his fin still isn’t reaching the surfer, so its mouth was probably a good 20 feet away from her. I think that the point is that she had just paddled across the area where the whale had come up. 10 seconds earlier and she would have been scrubbing baleen from the inside. ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-whale-encounter-almost-jonah/601868/4 "2011-11-04T17:14:54Z")
Who knows _what_ could have happened if those yelly gulls hadn’t shown up. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-whale-encounter-almost-jonah/601868/5 "2011-11-04T17:15:27Z")
The humpback was lunge feeding, going for a bait ball of fish that have been forced close to the surface. They use rings of bubbles to coral the fish together. The whale come up some distance from the kayack and surf-board. I think the bait-ball would tend to avoid them, perceiving them as another threat, so the people probably weren’t in that much danger. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-whale-encounter-almost-jonah/601868/6 "2011-11-04T18:07:23Z")
Even a blue whale’s gullet is relatively tiny 4 inches across, so nobody was in danger of being swallowed per se, tho getting scooped up (and then presumably spit out) would probably have hurt. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-whale-encounter-almost-jonah/601868/7 "2011-11-04T19:26:31Z")
I think that the camera operator was even closer. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-whale-encounter-almost-jonah/601868/8 "2011-11-04T20:10:55Z")
The second whale certainly comes pretty close to the surfer. Even if she was in no danger of being picked up or accidentally swallowed it’d be a hell of a surprise. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-whale-encounter-almost-jonah/601868/9 "2011-11-04T23:18:57Z")
Oh wow! That gave me shivers of the GOOD kind… what an awesome thing to see! I am WAY jealous! ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-whale-encounter-almost-jonah/601868/10 "2011-11-04T23:42:40Z")
So no cries of “Holy crap!” from the camera person? How disappointing.